EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) 鈥� Missy Mazzoli’s desire to compose an opera about the opioids epidemic was sparked by the deaths of two cousins.
鈥淥ne was in 2002 and the other passed away in 2009 and they were both 25,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ne overdosed on OxyContin and the other one overdosed heroin after becoming addicted to heroin via OxyContin.鈥�
Using a carnival merry-go-round as an allegory, 鈥淭he Galloping Cure鈥� opened Sunday at the Edinburgh International Festival, a haunting portrayal of the drug’s destructive power that is among the most impactful of contemporary operas.
Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek created a charismatic charlatan, Lucky Man (baritone Justin Austin), who arrives at the faded community Yourtown in a white double-breasted suit and matching cowboy hat, easing residents’ chronic pain by offering free rides on six fiberglass horses to get people hooked.
He starts charging money during the town’s yearlong descent 鈥� 鈥渄ynamic pricing,鈥� he calls it 鈥� then rents hobbyhorses until people go broke. He demands noses, hair, kneecaps and tongues as payments, body parts he will use to build more carousel horses. By the final notes, wasted bodies resemble a skid row.
鈥淲hen he offers you the cure, he never tells you the price,鈥� sings Dr. Theresa Hart (mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack), whose endorsement of Lucky Man leads to the death of her daughter Noy (soprano Gabrielle Turgeon).
This was the first of two launches for Mazzoli in a 71-day span. She becomes the first woman composer with a premiere at New York’s Metropolitan Opera with 鈥� on Oct. 19, a tight gap comparable to when Giuseppe Verdi鈥檚 鈥淚l Trovatore鈥� and 鈥淟a Traviata鈥� debuted 46 days apart in 1853.
A 45-year-old New Yorker originally from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Mazzoli met Vavrek in 2009. They have become the Rodgers and Hammerstein of 21st-century American opera, previously creating 鈥淪ong from the Uproar鈥� (2012), 鈥淏reaking the Waves鈥� (2016), 鈥淧roving Up鈥� (2018) and (2022).
鈥淕alloping鈥� runs through Wednesday in Scotland, moves to Sweden鈥檚 Norrlands Opera from Sept. 12-23 and the San Francisco Opera in the fall of 2027.
A Franz Kafka work was the genesis
Vavrek, a 43-year-old Canadian who also lives in New York, won a Pulitzer Prize for Du Yun’s 鈥淎ngel鈥檚 Bone.鈥� He and Mazzoli had long contemplated an opioids opera but made progress only after commissioning a treatment in 2022 from author Karen Russell.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until we collaborated with Karen that we found a way in that wasn鈥檛 preachy or predictable,鈥� Mazzoli said. 鈥淐oming at it via this weird fairy tale allows us to bring in all sorts of compassion and allows us see it in an unexpected way.鈥�
Russell joined Mazzoli and Vavrek for a Zoom meeting to discuss ideas, when they settled on Franz Kafka鈥檚 鈥淎 Country Doctor鈥� as a starting point.
鈥淭here鈥檚 sort of this floorless void of existential suffering,鈥� Russell said. 鈥淎nd then there鈥檚 also physical agony. Different kinds of pain are represented in that story and it feels like a fever dream to me.鈥�
Russell’s two-page treatment initially was called 鈥淭he Devil’s Miracle.鈥� She was influenced by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
鈥淎ll of your daughters are going to starve unless you give me your youngest child, right?鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like the devil knows when to appear, and it鈥檚 often in the context of extreme desperation.鈥�
Key meeting in Paris led to project鈥檚 green light
A breakthrough came in 2023, when Mazzoli and Vavrek鈥檚 earlier work, 鈥淏reaking the Waves鈥� was performed at the Op茅ra Comique in Paris. It was co-produced by the former artistic director of the English National Opera, John Berry, and directed by Tom Morris, who would go on to direct 鈥淕alloping.鈥�
Berry arranged for the creative trio to spend time at Hawkwood, a retreat at Stroud in the English Cotswolds, where they developed the thematic structure and Mazzoli wrote an initial melody. Around the same time, Mazzoli was finishing the composition of the second act of 鈥淟incoln,鈥� based on the George Saunders novel.
鈥淚 was working on them both concurrently, which I would not recommend to anyone,鈥� Mazzoli said. 鈥淏ut you do what you have to do when these opportunities come up.鈥�
A 2-hour, 15-minute work conducted by Stuart Stratford with one intermission, 鈥淕alloping鈥� was composed for four primary characters. One of them, a pain-wracked old woman named Ivona Kowalski (soprano Susan Bullock), sings early on: 鈥淟ife鈥檚 a joke and then you croak.鈥�
Set designer Rebecca Ringst and lighting designer Lucy Carter used 120 vertical LEDs about 7 yards (6.5 meters) long that resembled needles and caused at times a hallucinatory effect. Mazzoli shifts themes to a darker register as addiction takes hold and the music turns to electronica by DJ Blume and Lorna Dune for teenagers鈥� raves, mixed into the Scottish Opera Orchestra.
There is a chorus of 14, singing sheep and a pair of dogs (hilariously portrayed by Catriona Hewitson and Edward Jowle), whose barks become words that Theresa understands as she becomes strung out.
鈥淚鈥檓 really into finding that strange element that only works really for opera and some comic relief,鈥� Vavrek said. 鈥淭he dogs are funny. They鈥檙e silly.鈥�
Set in a struggling town that could be anywhere
Lucky Man is similar to Harold Hill in Sportin’ Life in 鈥淭he Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess鈥� and Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti鈥檚 鈥淟鈥檈lisir d鈥檃more (The Elixir of Love).鈥� Morris called him a 鈥済rifter/magician/snake-oil salesman.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 the same kind of charismatic person that will sell you on anything,鈥� Mack said. 鈥淔rom an outsider鈥檚 point of view, you can objectively say, `Oh, well, I would never do that.’ But actually, would you never do it? You don鈥檛 know until you鈥檙e in a situation. This is not a piece that passes judgment on any of those things but rather asks a really big question about who鈥檚 at fault for these ills in society and what we do moving forward.鈥�
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